As a purpose driven, value led company, Tricon understands how critical it is to embrace our humanity, and to be understanding and compassionate, especially during this pandemic. Our Purpose Statement and Guiding Principles take center stage at this time and we will do whatever we can to support the well-being of residents and employees. Our physical, social, emotional and financial benefit programs, that already existed, were well designed to help our employees through this crisis, and we further expanded our offerings to include additional services that are tailored to this specific situation. Everything we do is through the lens of care and support.

That’s the culture of Tricon. When you get culture right everything else falls into place and there is no better time to let that shine than right now.

Some of our employee benefits include:

Continued all employees on full pay whether or not we have full time work for them.

Continued employees who could not work at all due to childcare responsibilities on full -pay for
6 weeks while they made alternate arrangements

Waived all member cost share (copays, deductibles and coinsurance) for the testing AND
treatment of COVID-19

Made available a free 24-Hour Helpline, through Cigna Behavioral, that is available to all
employees so they can talk about any stress or anxiety they are feeling during this time

Offered paid caregiver leave for employees caring for a family member diagnosed with COVID-
19

Assured employees with monthly or quarterly incentive plans that Tricon would account for
COVID-19 impacts to operations and continue to pay them the average of what they had
received for the last 3 months

Provided access to free mental health professionals, via phone or text, through the Employee
Assistance Program

Offered free, live financial planning webinars

Provided 100% coverage for virtual doctor visits and online health care services for employees
with chronic conditions or who are immune compromised

Presented well-being modules and challenges geared to staying physically and mentally healthy
at home

Introduced contests to add some fun into the day- like Jellybean counting.

Conducted wellness checks- that included personal phone calls to each employee

Distributed Pulse survey that allow Tricon to tell if there is an area of employee concern that has
not been adequately addressed or a specific geographical region that needs extra care

Tricon has really gone above and beyond to show incredible support to our employees and their families during this turbulent time.

Employee Engagement must be close to the top buzz word for 2019 or perhaps even the last decade. While everyone can speak eloquently about the benefits of encouraging employee engagement and the importance of it to producing top business results, ask more specific questions and those once vivacious people go silent. Few actually spend the time to detail the specifics of what activities actually do increase employee engagement in the workforce. Before we increase our spending in 2019 by 45% on increasing employee engagement as predicted by G2 Crowd, let’s figure out exactly how we should be allocating those additional dollars.

Productivity

Productivity yields employee engagement. A novel concept as most would argue that it is the reverse; a previously engaged employee yields better productivity. However, this gives us a significant opportunity to ensure that we provide our employees with every opportunity to not only produce, but to understand how what they do fits within the framework of the organizational objectives. Establishing waterfall goals is an easy an effective way to assist employees at every level to understand their ability to accomplish objectives and feel proud of their contribution to the organization, thus yielding more productivity.

Employee Recognition

Employee recognition can come in many forms, individual, team or even Company. We use a peer to peer recognition program called Good Gotcha’s. Anyone can nominate anyone else for doing something good. A subset of those are then chosen and announced at our quarterly all hands meeting. We also have quarterly awards structured around our Guiding Principles, an annual President’s award and Community service award. Don’t forget about company awards, there is Great Places to Work and the corresponding Fortune awards, AON Top places to Work and many local awards. Employees feel proud to work for a company that is recognized nationally as one of the best places to work!

Promoting Wellness

Healthy employees are happy employees! While only about 10% of employers have implemented a formal wellness platform, they provide opportunities across a host of health initiatives for your employees. We use Vitality and could not be happier. Employees have the ability to earn points for individual or team fitness challenges, for taking healthy actions like getting a physical of biometrics performed, buying healthy food and participating in physical, mental, emotional and financial wellness opportunities offered by the company.

Continuing Education/Learning

Almost all employees want the opportunity to develop their skills whether that be through lattice, vertical or ladder, horizontal learning opportunities. We offer a three fold approach to learning that encompasses action steps, which are specific projects an employee can tackle to enhance their value to the company, internal training opportunities through custom content and courses and also through Franklin Covey’s All Access Pass and external training courses or certifications.

The list is likely endless. Almost anything you do with the employees’ best interest in mind can be utilized to enhance employee engagement, and, ultimately, company performance!

In last month’s blog, I begin to delve into some of the most important tips and tricks of the interviewing preparation period. If you follow those three steps, you will have a solid foundation to work off of when walking into your interview.

But one must always prepare for the worst, and there is always the possibility that you will not be ready for a question or scenario that an interviewer throws at you. So, for part two of “Interview Like a Pro”, we’ll be covering what to do if you end up stumped during your interview.

Take a Deep Breath and Remain Calm

The last thing that you want to do when you feel stuck is to panic. Of course, this is easier said than done, but it’s of the utmost importance that you don’t allow your brain to slip into a frenzy. Once panic sets in, it will be extremely difficult to recover, and your body will start to have physical reactions to the stress. Try to avoid blurting out the first thing that comes to mind, and do not immediately say “I don’t know”.

The key is to remember to breathe. It’s been proven that deep breaths help to clear your mind. Remind yourself that it is perfectly fine to not know the full answer, and then focus on coming up with something viable.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Questions

It is perfectly acceptable to ask for clarification if you feel as though the question is unclear. Depending on your industry, it may even be expected that you ask questions. In web development interviews, interviewers actually prefer that you ask questions, so that they can have access to your thought process.

Pro Tip: Talking through your response may actually help you to clarify your thought process.

Be Okay With (Gracefully) Admitting Defeat

If you’ve tried talking through your thought process, and still can’t come to a conclusion( or you know for a fact that the question you are being asked requires specific knowledge you do not have, it’s okay to say that you truly do not know. Promise that you will follow up with the correct answer post-interview.

Final Note:

Always send a follow up! If you promised an answer, make sure you send it. Otherwise, send a follow-up email that thanks the interviewer(s) for their time.